GLENDALE, ARIZ. — Everything was hitting Kennedy Meeks at once: the sweat droplets splashing his cheeks, the stray shouts and steady boos from a green-and-yellow-clad army of Oregon fans inside University of Phoenix Stadium — but maybe more than anything else, the magnitude of this moment.

Rewind back to that moment: How, in the midst of a funnel of navy blue shirts and with an entire orchestra of boos serenading the North Carolina men’s basketball team, the most unlikely of players found himself with the ball.

MEMPHIS — The checklist is lengthy, of everything the North Carolina men’s basketball team brings on its road trips: Kennedy Meeks’ favorite pair of UGG boots, for instance, or Nate Britt’s extra earrings.
They’re frills, sure, but anything to make a hotel room feel more like home. It makes sense, then, that Joel Berry and Theo Pinson would bring their own piece of home whenever the team travels.

Think about everything going on in that moment: siren blaring, thousands of butts rising all at once out of thousands of seats, a parade of pom-poms ruffling on the sidelines — and yet, the most important thing was a teensy, tiny little poke.

DTH caught up with prized UNC running back commit Elijah Hood, a Charlotte native. Hood talks UNC, his strengths as a player and his thoughts about the Tar Heels’ performance against Miami on Thursday night.